by Logan Byrne
“There it is. Ready for this?” Charlie asked, as we looked at the portal into the oasis.
“Remember, we aren’t auditors. Well, I’m not, anyway, but try to leave that behind. This mission is for mankind, mortal and magical alike. Let’s get it done and move on,” I said, as Charlie nodded.
We walked through the portal, falling back into the same spot we had before, the towering palm trees a welcome change from the vast blanket of sand we’d stood in just seconds prior.
“Get hydrated,” he said, before shifting and taking a drink from the stream flowing around the perimeter. I cupped my hands, feeling the cold water slide smoothly down my throat, coating it as the searing temperatures around me lessened the more I drank.
“Okay,” I said, wiping the dribble from my chin, “we need to get talking to the locals here.”
“Do you think we should talk about a strategy first?” he asked.
“Like what? I was just going to ask them about it,” I said.
“Yeah, but isn’t that not what we want to do, in case they try to go for it instead?” he asked.
“Charlie, this isn’t a normal job, this is for an object most people don’t even think is real. We just need their fables, and maybe they have an idea where the item has been rumored to be all this time. Then we can move out,” I said.
“I guess you’re right,” he said, so we walked into the first pub we came across, which we happened to have visited long before.
“Back for a second round?” Gorlon, the pub owner, asked as we walked inside.
“Hey Gorlon, how are you?” I asked, walking up to the counter.
A wart perched on the tip of his bulbous nose, Gorlon wasn’t exactly the prettiest pub owner in the land, but then again I’d never met an attractive pub owner in my life, and I’d been to a lot of them. He didn’t look surprised or intimidated by us coming here, even though he knew we were with M.A.G.I.C. the last time we came in. I guess he was telling the truth before about not wanting any trouble in his pub.
“I ain’t got anybody here to give up to you,” he said, snorting and spitting into a metal spittoon on the side of the counter.
“We aren’t here for that. I don’t even work for them anymore,” I said, sitting at the counter.
“Oh yeah? Why?” he asked.
“Just didn’t work out. You know how it goes,” I said.
“Yeah, I guess. What are you having?” he asked.
“I’ll have a whiskey and cola on the rocks,” I said, defaulting to my usual drink.
“You?” he asked, looking at Charlie.
“Oh, um, I’ll do the same,” he said, shrugging.
“Got it,” Gorlon said, before walking off to mix the drinks.
“You sure about that?” I asked, laughing a little.
“How bad can it be? You drink it,” Charlie said.
“Okay,” I said, laughing.
“So I refuse to think that you’re just here to visit. Nobody comes to these parts, to this oasis, just to chit-chat and have a little reunion. Why are you two out here again?” Gorlon asked, as he brought back our spotted glasses.
I took a swig of my drink, swirling around the ice cubes, as I looked him straight in the eyes. “You ask a lot of questions for a guy who prides himself on not asking a lot of questions,” I said.
“I’ve got to make sure people ain’t bringing trouble into my pub,” he said.
“Nah, we aren’t bringing any trouble. We’re actually treasure hunting,” I said, and I noticed a man at the end of the pub perk up.
“Ain’t much to find around here,” Gorlon said, laughing a little, before coughing.
“Treasure hunting, you say?” the man asked, before walking over and sitting down by me. “What are you searching for?”
“Looking for the Oxinora. Heard of it?” I asked, taking another swig.
“Oh geez, I thought you were searching for something real,” he snorted, laughing like an old prospector.
“So you don’t believe in it?” Charlie asked.
“Kid, thousands of creatures over the eons have searched for that damned thing. Thousands more have died doing it. It ain’t real, I’ll tell you that,” he said.
“I heard Merlin himself couldn’t even find it. Probably don’t exist,” Gorlon added, hanging over the bar top.
“Can’t blame a girl for wanting to look, though, can you? After all, its powers are supposed to be pretty great,” I said.
“Who wants to live forever? It’s a long time, you know,” Gorlon said.
“In the wrong hands it could be disastrous,” the other man said.
“What’s your name, anyway?” I asked, intrigued.
“They call me Petey, but I’ve also gone by many other names,” he said.
“We came here because we heard that the crystal is hidden somewhere around these parts,” I said.
“Well, I don’t know what dipstick told you that, but if the Oxinora is real, it sure ain’t sitting around these dunes, that’s for damn sure,” Petey said, taking a sip of his watered-down beer.
“Well, then where is it?” Charlie asked.
“The only rumors I’ve heard put it somewhere southeast, towards Lake Natron,” Petey said.
“You don’t want to go down there, it’ll kill ya. Besides, the journey is long enough to make your head spin,” Gorlon said.
“What’s wrong with it? It’s that hostile?” I asked.
“Hostile? Girl, you don’t know the first thing about hostility. The lake itself is practically made of salt, and the water, if you can call it that, is as red as blood,” Petey said.
“If that stuff gets on you, you’ll have a bad time,” Gorlon said.
“Not only that, but the fumes that come off there from the evaporation will knock you unconscious and make you see folks that ain’t there. You’ll hallucinate and go mad, I tell ya,” Petey said.
“We can deal with that, I guess. I might have some spells to protect against the fumes and salt,” I said, looking at Charlie.
“Those are just the natural barriers that prevent humans from entering,” Petey said.
“Yeah, then you’ll have to deal with the harpies. There’s a huge nest of them there, protecting the land and area around it,” Gorlon said.
“How many are we talking?” Charlie asked.
“Hundred?” Petey asked, looking at Gorlon.
“I’d say more than that, if you were to go deep inside the nest. They protect the flamingoes that breed there and keep the area pristine from humans trying to destroy it for industry. They thrive in the caustic gases around the lake,” Gorlon said.
“We have to take those kinds of chances in this line of work,” I said.
“Lexa, can I talk to you over here?” Charlie asked, tugging me aside.
“What is it?” I asked, as we walked over to the corner, where the guys couldn’t hear us.
“We don’t have the capability to take on that many magical creatures alone, especially if we don’t even know that this thing is out there. This guy sounds a little mental, if you ask me, and it’s not like he knows anything for certain. I’m not even sure his name is Petey, I think he made it up because he can’t remember his real name,” Charlie said, panicked.
“Think of it, Charlie. It makes perfect sense hiding something that affords immortality in a place that creates death. Having the harpies there to guard it would mean that nobody would ever be able to get to it,” I said, excited.
“Okay, it’s freaking me out that you’re this pumped to try to go do this. What happens when we’re attacked, or we breathe the fumes and die?” he asked.
“I’ll make sure we don’t, I promise. Besides, my magic and shields will be enough to prevent them from hurting us, or I could always use Obscurio and they’d never even know we were there. Trust me, we’ve got this,” I said, slapping him on the shoulder.
“Why did I agree to this?” he asked, as we walked back to the bar.
“How long wi
ll it take to trek there?” I asked.
“Oh, you can’t do that,” Petey said, laughing. “Driving there alone takes about six days, and flying is fourteen hours to even get to Nairobi. The trek ain’t easy, but one could say it’s worth it.”
“If you get it, bring it back here and give me a little jolt. Maybe I could add ten years to the old clock,” Gorlon said, smiling.
“And you’re sure it’s there?” I asked, looking at them both.
“Sweetheart, all we can go on are stories and legends and nothing else. I think it’s out there, Petey thinks it’s out there, and you deserve the thing if you can survive the terrain, climate, and harpies. Just be sure to watch your back,” Gorlon said.
“Why?” I asked.
“More powerful mages than you have gone in and never came back out. Don’t think you’ll be any different,” he said, shaking his head.
“Where can we get a flight?” I asked, ready to throw caution to the wind and head out there. I figured we could always teleport back if it were that bad.
“Sorry, but the next plane doesn’t leave for another two days. It only goes down there once a week. I can give you the place, but it’ll cost you two silver coins each for safe passage,” Gorlon said, pulling out a little card.
“The money isn’t a problem,” I said, thinking of the sack of coins inside my pack safe and sound.
“Here, give this to the counter with the metal plane above it five minutes down the road. That’ll let them know I sent you and that you’re legit,” Gorlon said, handing me the card.
“Here, thank you for the drinks, and your troubles,” I said, sliding him over a silver coin for our drinks, before getting my pack on and walking out.
“Cheers, kid. Good luck,” he said, as we left his pub.
As we walked down the road, I kept an eye out for wanted signs. I hadn’t seen any bounty posters with my face plastered on them since we’d gotten here. Either Kiren hadn’t gotten out here yet, or he didn’t think it necessary. After all, this was an oasis for mainly criminals, and I guess he didn’t think I’d be showing my face out and about. I was thankful for his ignorance.
A gnome with grease smudged on her cheek sat inside the airport booth as Charlie and I walked up. “Two days until flights,” she said, barely looking up while flipping through her magazine.
“We have this,” I said, sliding the card Gorlon had given me under the wire window.
“I see Gorlon sent you over. The cost will be two silver coins each, and you must pay in advance to secure your spot,” she said, grabbing some tickets from her left .
“Here,” I said, reaching into my pack and pulling out four silver coins. I slid them under the window and the feisty gnome bit them to check their authenticity. As if I’d have the audacity to give her fake coins in these parts.
“Coins have been validated. Be here in two days at nine in the morning. We’ll leave then, and the flight will take fourteen hours,” she said, before stamping two tickets and sliding them under the glass.
“Wouldn’t it be quicker to teleport or something?” Charlie asked.
“I’m a gnome, kid, I don’t exactly have the ability to do that sort of stuff,” she said, with a slightly annoyed tone, as if she couldn’t believe he asked that.
“I meant you,” Charlie said to me, mumbling, as I put the tickets in my pack and we walked away.
“I don’t know where I’m going, and besides, it will be fun,” I said, trying to make the best of the situation. “We’ll get to see all of Africa from the air.”
“From what, that?” he asked, pointing at an aircraft sitting a couple hundred yards away on a dirt runway.
“That’s not it,” I said, believing whole-heartedly that there was no way that hunk of scrap was our plane.
“Oh, really? Where’s the plane, then? Because that’s all I see. We’re going to die,” he moaned.
“It’s not that bad,” I said, trying not to freak him out. In reality, it was that bad. The plane was silver—or at least the parts of it that weren’t weathered were silver, with half-rusted rivets, but it was just plain old. It wasn’t big, enough to fit about four or five people, as long as they weren’t large, and the tires looked dry-rotted and partially deflated. For a species that tinkered for a living, this gnome sure could’ve done a better job with her work.
“If I die, I’m killing you,” Charlie said sternly.
“Shut up and let’s get a room somewhere. We have two nights here, and we need to get some kind of shelter,” I said.
I looked around, seeing a motel with an intermittently flashing vacancy sign out front. “Great place for me to catch fleas,” Charlie said.
“Then don’t shift,” I said, shaking my head. He was already giving me a headache and we’d barely been gone an hour. How was I going to get through a couple more days?
“Looking for a stay?” a haggard woman asked from behind the counter of the motel. Her back was hunched, her skin oddly pale considering where we were, and her long fingernails were covered in sand and dirt.
“We need something for two nights,” I said.
“We only have one room available, I’m afraid,” she said, grinning.
“That’ll be fine. How much?” I asked.
“The price is one silver coin for both nights. ‘Tis a bargain, is it not?” she asked, with a soft cackle that made me feel uneasy.
“Just pay it,” Charlie said, when I glanced at him to make sure he was okay with it. There weren’t many places to sleep around here, and I figured it was better to be in a seedy place like this than on the street trying to sleep against a wall. That would be the opportune time to be robbed.
“Thank you, my darlings. Here is your key,” she said, before sliding over a skeleton key with the number fourteen engraved on it.
“Thank you,” I said, nodding, and we walked towards our room. I heard a cat screeching from somewhere nearby, and a burly man yelling at somebody, maybe his wife, before we walked up to our room and unlocked the door.
“Great,” Charlie said, as a rat scurried away as we walked inside. “Field work is just so much fun.”
“Get used to it, this is how things are when you’re doing missions like this. Maybe my spell book will have something to help,” I said, tossing my bag on the bed and creating a small dust storm. The stuffy air in the room was filled with sand and dust.
“I should’ve listened and stayed in the precinct,” Charlie said, in his typical doomsday tone.
“Here, a cleaning spell. See, this isn’t so bad, we have some help,” I said, taking out my wand. I looked at the diagrams, memorizing the wand movements, before clearing my throat. “Tersus Sursum,” I said, flicking my wand around three times.
The dust was sucked up into a ball floating in the center of the room, the dirt being scrubbed away, before it all vanished, leaving the slightest scent of lavender behind. Astonished, Charlie stood up, shifting, before sniffing around with his enhanced sense of smell. “It’s gone, it’s all gone. I can’t believe you did it.”
“I guess those housewives really did a good job when they invented this spell,” I said, laughing a little. I hopped back on the bed, where the pillows were fluffed and smelling like they’d just been washed, before putting away my wand and kicking back my feet. Maybe we could make this work after all.
3
Handmade items hung all around us as Charlie and I walked through the markets of Marrakech. It was an ancient city, and by far the closest glimmer of mortal civilization to the oasis. We’d left there, at least for part of the day, mostly because we didn’t want to anger the locals. They looked at us funny, as if they knew we were auditors, and I thought it made Charlie a bit uneasy since he was convinced we would be attacked at any moment. Besides, we were in Morocco! How many chances were we going to get in life to wander aimlessly through an ancient outdoor market? I wasn’t sure we would get many other opportunities, so I wanted to capitalize on it.
“People are looking
at me funny,” Charlie whispered as we walked down the central market corridor.
“I think they’re just surprised to see outsiders like us,” I whispered back.
The smell of hookah and saffron filled the air as incense tickled my senses. Charlie rubbed his nose, trying to block it out; his mortal form’s nose was a lot more sensitive than mine. I guess that was what he got for being a jaguar shifter and having those cat-like senses.
“Look at this,” I said, pointing at a hand-woven blanket that hung from the top of a shop’s wooden structure. It was composed of brilliant colors, reds, yellows, oranges, and even some purple. I reached out, feeling it, the rough material creating static between my fingers.
“Interested?” a man asked, smiling, as he walked out from behind a small counter to the side.
“Oh, yes, it’s a very nice blanket. You speak English?” I asked.
“I speak many tongues. One must if he is to sell to all people,” the man said, the pungent scent of his Drakkar Noir cologne singeing my nose hairs.
“How much is it?” I asked.
“Two hundred dirhams, my dear,” he said.
“Two hundred, huh? That’s quite a lot,” I said.
“Only just over twenty American dollars. Surely that is a fair price for such a beautiful handmade item such as this,” he said, reaching out and touching the blanket. It was nice, I’d give him that, but in my search for a nice trinket, I’d realized I didn’t have any mortal money on me. Pote gave me magical money, and I didn’t think they’d love me handing that out to mortals.
“You know, I don’t even have any money. I can’t believe this, I forgot it in our hotel,” I said, looking at Charlie.
“Well, can’t win them all,” Charlie said, shrugging, obviously not impressed with either the blanket or the man trying to sell it to us.
“That’s a shame. Why don’t you come back later and we’ll work out a deal,” the man said, before going back to his little counter.
“I only have the money Pote gave us,” I whispered to Charlie as we walked away.
